Improvement in detecting check-boxes



llNiTnn STATES PATENT @Trice JOHN P. GONKLING, OF BATGHELLERVILLE, NEW YORK.

DINPROVEIVIENT IN DETECTING CHECK-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. l, (lated May 2'2, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, J oHN P. CoNxLiNG, of Batchellerville, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York, have invented a Universal Detecter; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this speci ficatioii, in which- Figure l is' a perspective view of my iinproved detecter, showing it locked at top and bottom. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the instrument. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the instrument, taken in a plane at right angles to the plane of the sectional View, Fig. 2. Fig. t is a sectional view, showing the man ner of removing checks from the bottom of the instrument. Fig. 5 shows the glass faceplate of the instrument detached therefrom.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresi'iondiiig parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a new and iinproved instrument which is designed for the detection of fraud by persons whose business it is to handle money or paper representing money value. Itis intended more particularly for use in banks, restaurants, hotels, on railroads and other publie conveyances, and at places of amusement, and, iii fact, wherever money is received or paid out. It is so constructed that a number of checks or tickets can be put into it and locked up by the proprietor of any business place before giving it to the employ whose duty it is todraw said checks, one at a time, corresponding in money value to the sale made by him. These checks cannotbeiiitroducedintotheinstrumentagain, when once they have been .removed from it, except by the person holding the key; consequently every ticket or check drawn must be accounted for by the drawer, in whose charge the instrument is conded.

The object of the invention is to so construct sucli an instrument that when it has been supplied with tickets, and these locked up in it b y the owner, they can be readily withdrawn, one at a time, but not replaced again without unlocking the instrument, as

'will be hereinafter explained.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, I will describe its construction aiid operation.

The receptacle for containing the checks may be iliade of wood, metal, or other suitable material, of any required capacity. It consists of a closed back, A, and closed sides B B, with an open bottom, G, a hinged top, D, and a sliding face-plate, E, which latter may be made of glass or any other substance.

The hinged cover D is slotted at two points, for receiving through it two perforated ears, a a, which are adapted for receiving through them a bolt, a', for holding the cover securely in place when it is fastened by a padlock, b. i/Vhen the lock and bolt are removed the cover D can be thrown up and the contents of the box removed.

The sliding faceplate E is fitted into slots formed in the sides B B of the box, and can only be removed when the cover D is open. This face-plate E extends down nearly to the bottom plate, C, leaving a space only sufficient for the withdrawal of one ticket at a time from the bottom of the pile of tickets A', which are confined in the box, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The bottom plate, C, is constructed with an opening, C', in it, which exposes a portion of the bottom ticket of the pile, to be pressed upon and withdrawn edgewise by the fingers from the box. This bottom plate projects insideof the lower ends of the side plates, B B, sufficient distances to afford a support for the pile of tickets in the box, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and to allow the lowermost ticket in the pile to be slipped forward beneath the faceplate E.

0n the inside faces of the side plates, B B, I form rows of rackslor ratchet-teeth c c, directly opposite each other, which are intended for engaging with the hooked upper ends of spring-dogs d d, that are pivoted to a loaded follower, Gr. This follower is simply a rectangular block of metal fitted to slide freely up and down within the instrument, and to act by its gravity to keep the pile of tickets down closely upon the bottom plate, C, and also to serve as a feeder to move the tickets downward as rapidly as they are drawn out, one at a time, from the bottom of the pile.

The tickets or checks used should all be of a uniform thickness; but they may 13e-rectangular, or of any other form which is ada-pted to fit loosely within the receptacle of the instrument. Theymay be made of metal, ivory, wood, paper,

or of any other suitable material, and should have appropriate letters, numbers, or other characters upon them by which their value is indicated. rIhese checks or tickets are introduced into their receptacle by opening the cover D and removing the follower G or face-plate E, after which the parts which were removed are returned and the cover D locked down in its place, the key being retained by the owner. Another key is given to the employ', by. which he can unlock and remove a transverse bar, J, when he desires to withdraw the tickets from the bottom of the pile. This bar J passes transversely through the side plates, B B, directly in front of the lowermost ticket of the pile, so that no ticket can he removed when said bar is in its place, as above mentioned. This bar J is for the protection of the employ, and the bar or bolt a. is for the protection of the employer. Ihe locks which are applied to these bars should be differently constructed, so that the key of one lock shall not unlock the other.

In order to guard against the possibility of inserting a check beneath the pile of checks in the box when one check has been withdrawn from beneath this pile, I employ pins g g, which are acted upon by concealed springs that press said pins up against the bottom check of the pile, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. Should a person press upon the bottom ot' the check which is next above the lowest one during the act of withdrawing the latter, and thus prevent the descent of the follower G, it will be seen that without the safety-pins g g, applied as above shown, another check could bc inserted in place of the one withdrawn; but by having the safety-pins they will spring up behind a check, as shown in Fig. 4, and prevent its being returned to its place when once withdrawn.

The pawls or spring-dogs d d are used to prevent any upward movement being given to the follower Gr by an upward pressure on the checks. Instead of using the spring-dogs, as shown in the drawings, toothed pinions or ratchet-wheels and dogs can be empl-eyed in their stead.

I do not confine my invention to the use of pins g g, as other equivalent devices which will answer the purpose for which these pins are intended may be adopted iu conjunction with a follower having arresti n g-pawls applied to it.

If desirable, a spring or springs may be employed, in conjunction with the gravitating follower Gr, for assisting in keeping the checks in place upon the bottom plate of the instrument, so that the bottom cheek will always be forced down and held in a position to be withdrawn.

In Fig. 5 I represent a glass face-plate, E, having certain marks engraved upon it, which will indicate at a glance the number of checks, it' any, which have been drawn from the instrument. The marks indicate fives, tens, and hundreds, are properly gaged upon the glass, their distance apart being equal to the thickness of the checks.

In Fig. l I represent two studs, h h, projecting from the plates B B opposite each other, which studs are so arranged with reference to the opening beneath the plate E that they keep the checks down iiat upon the bottom plate, O.

until withdrawn entirely from the instrument.

Should the instrument be so constructed that the checks could be feloniously introduced into it by inclining or inverting it, then I contemplate the application of a weight or some other suitable device to the instrument, which will always indicate if it has been thus tampered with.

In practice I propose to have a number of these instruments suitably connected together and arranged side by side, each instrument containing checks indicating a diiierent value, with its appropriate number marked conspicuously uponit to prevent any mista-'ke in drawing` the checks.

In most cases the instruments will be estab- A lished in some convenient place, although they may he constructed with the view of having them portable when it is desired to move them from one place to another.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to Asecure by Letters 

